Any form of reproduction of the contents or parts of this manual is allowed only with the express written permission from SEP AG. When compiling and designing user documentation SEP AG uses great diligence and attempts to deliver accurate and correct information. However, SEP AG cannot issue a guarantee for the contents of this manual.

This is not the latest version of SEP sesam documentation and, as such, does not provide information on features introduced in the latest release. For more information on SEP sesam releases, see SEP sesam Release Versions. For the latest documentation, check latest Release Notes.

Enhanced VMware vSphere CBT backup can now use Si3 target deduplication and can be used for different types of restore and recovery. Incremental (INCR) backups are introduced for Hyper-V virtual machines. Fine-tuning Exchange Server DAG backup includes dynamical DAG host selection and selection of the appropriate database copy mode.

A hybrid of both, target-based (Si3T) and newly introduced source-side deduplication (Si3S) is now available. GUI is enhanced with flexible scheduling that may prevent scheduled jobs from running during holidays by using user defined option.

SEP sesam Server requirements

Additionally, JavaFX is required for the new web dashboard and user-defined schedules features. The dashboard can also be viewed in GUI, but only if JavaFX is present on the respective GUI client. If JavaFX is not available, the web dashboard can only be accessed by browser (http://[servername]:11401/sep/ui). Note: Oracle®'s Java 8 already includes JavaFX (e.g., on Windows). Oracle®'s OpenJFX Project provides JavaFX packages that can be installed separately if some other Java version is used, such as IBM Java, which is typically installed on SuSE. Depending on your system and Java version, manually install either OpenJFX package or Oracle®'s Java 8 on your SEP sesam GUI client to have all the latest features available.

64-bit OS required

SEP sesam Server requires a 64-bit OS.

Installation and upgrades

SEP sesam 4.4.3 was released on September 21st, 2016. Direct upgrade for versions 3.6/4.x to version 4.4.3 is supported. Latest released versions are:

As of SEP sesam version ≥ 4.4.3.25, special service pack executables are available for Linux systems to ease the installation of service packs and patches. For details, see Applying Service Packs on Linux.

Windows specific

The 4.4.3 installation package on Windows also includes:

VMware® Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK) version 6.0.2 for Windows.

New Callback File System® (CBFS®) version 6.1.181 from EldoS Corporation, used to create virtual file systems and disks for savesets which are stored on SEP sesam local data store or Si3 deduplication store.

Note

A CBFS driver is needed for the virtual file system layer (Cross Platform Recovery File System – XPRFS). The installation/update of this driver requires a reboot of your newly installed or updated Windows SEP sesam Server.

SEP sesam Server and Client components should be upgraded to the latest version during the upgrade process. This ensures that SEP sesam Clients are fully protected. Customers with a valid license are eligible for a free upgrade of SEP sesam to any new release for the duration of the license. See also Automatic Updates and Automatic Installation on Windows.

Known issues and limitations

Note

Antivirus programs may disrupt network communication and cause SEP sesam processes, such as backup and replication, to fail. One program that is known to cause SEP sesam processes to terminate is Sophos Firewall with IPS (Intrusion Prevention System) enabled. Make sure that there are no antivirus, firewall, IDS or IPS programs preventing interaction with SEP sesam.

When backing up via hypervisor and using external disk, SEP sesam cannot back up the data on the independent or RDM disks, because hypervisors are not able to back up such devices. The data of such disks is silently skipped from backup, hence the backup saveset contains no data for the independent or RDM disks while the backup succeeds and no warning about the missing data is issued. If a restore of a VM with independent/RDM disk is performed to the original VM by using the option overwrite, the independent/RDM disk is re-created and all existing data on the restore target is lost.

Workaround: To back up virtual machines that contain independent disks and RDMs, you have to install the SEP sesam Client in the virtual machine and perform an additional file or application backup to back up this data.

In SEP sesam versions equal to or lesser than 4.4.3.45, if you select a client as a migration source in the schedule/event rather than in migration task, the data is not migrated because SEP sesam erroneously ignores the client.

Workaround: To select a client as a migration source, specify the client when creating a migration task: Main Selection -> Tasks -> Migration tasks. For details, see Creating a migration task.

SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.xx – Throughput for local backups is very low

In some Linux systems, e.g., SLES 12, the local loopback device lo is often configured with MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) size 65536 (64K). This may decrease the local transfer throughput because the MTU size is equal to the transfer buffer size used in SEP sesam.

Resolve: Check the local loopback MTU size by using ifconfig lo, set the MTU size to 16K (ifconfig lo mtu 16384), and add or change MTU=16384 in /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-lo for SLES12. For example, see FAQ.

In SEP sesam version 4.4.3.28, slu performs a thorough check of the loader status: it does not only check if the drive or slot is full, it also checks if it is accessible. If the loader reports the incorrect status to slu, slu will consequently display the incorrect contents of the drives, which may also result in failed tape drive unload.

In previous SEP sesam version 4.4.2, the amount of data was measured in TiB (tebibyte), but the SEP license calculates usage in standard TB, as stated in the labeled capacity of licenses. This means that in version 4.4.2 the actual capacity of the licensed volume was slightly higher from the labeled/allowed amount. In 4.4.3, the amount of data is correctly measured in TB. Because the old license accepted the values that were approximately 10% higher (due to the difference between a tebibyte and a terabyte), a license violation may occur.

Resolve: To continue using SEP sesam, contact sales@sep.de and order a volume license extension or a replacement license with the correct amount of front-side or storage pool TB. Then install it on SEP sesam Server. For details, see Licensing FAQs. For details on how to calculate front-side capacity, see SEP volume licensing.

Overwriting an EOL-free tape in the single tape drive with the tape label requested by the initialization

In SEP sesam v. 4.4.3.25, when initialization is started for a specific pool and an unexpected EOL-free tape is inserted in a single tape drive instead of the expected one, the inserted tape is incorrectly relabeled with the label of the expected tape. This affects only the single tape drives, i.e. the tape drives without a media changer.

Reduced retention time (EOL) for a DIFF or INCR saveset results in reduced retention time for a complete saveset chain

If the retention time of a DIFF or INCR saveset is changed to analready expired time, the whole backup chain is affected and all savesets in this backup chain areset with the same expired EOL. This may result in potential data loss because the FULL saveset can also be purged and overwritten.

Workaround: To avoid data loss and ensure that a FULL saveset is retained for the expected retention time, do not change the EOL of a DIFF or INCR saveset to already expired time.

A new drive cannot be configured for a loader

When you attempt to configure a new drive for a loader and only one loader is configured under theLoaders, the loader selection box in the drive dialog/properties only allows to select "No Loader" or "0". The configured loader "1" is missing and consequently a new drive cannot be assigned to it.

Workaround: Create a dummy loader with dummy values, e.g., loader number 2 with loader namedummy and device dummy. Now the Loaders box will show "No Loader", "1", "2" and you will be able to assign a new drive. For more details on loaders, see Loaders 4.4.

Major update of Windows clients by using local packages (sm_update_client) fails

When you attempt to update your Windows clients remotely by using sm_update_client, the update fails in case of a major update, for example from 4.4.2 to 4.4.3. This is a Microsoft Windows Installer ((MSI) error. During update, the operating system is unable to completely remove the previous installation files because SEP sesam CTRLD or SM_SSHD client access programs are still in use. Consequently the update fails.

Workaround: Perform SEP sesam remote update by using sm_remote_installer.exe on your Windows SEP sesam Server. You will have to provide the username and password. All installation packages must be located in the <SEP_sesam_home>var\work\packages directory. For details, seeRemote installation.

SEP sesam version 4.4.1, 4.4.2 and 4.4.3.xx – The backup task system_recovery does not provide sufficient data for bare system recovery

SEP sesam versions from 4.4.1 to 4.4.3.xx provide a misleading backup task type system_recovery. The only supported source system_state backs up data as specified in MS article Backing Up and Restoring System State, but the backed up data does not provide the ability to perform a bare system recovery (BSR).

IBM Java 1.8 does not provide Java FX on SLES for GUI calendar and dashboard

SEP Sesam 4.4.3. The new GUI features calendar and dashboard are using Java FX which is not included in IBM Java 1.8 on SLES-based distributions, therefore the GUI does not provide neither calendar nor dashboard. Hint: You can access the dashboard by typing the following information in the browser address bar:http://[servername]:11401/sep/ui or https://[servername]:11401/sep/ui. You can create, modify or delete the calendar by using the Calendar Overview. For details, see Modifying a Calendar.

Resolve: To get access to the new GUI calendar and dashboard features, install OpenJDK-based JRE or Oracle JRE prior to installation or upgrade to 4.4.3.

License violation due to exceeded amount of licensed volume

In SEP sesam version 4.4.2 some volume licenses did not check if the licensed volume amount is reached. Now the amount of licensed volumes is checked correctly. If the volume amount allowed by your license has been exceeded, you must acquire a license with larger volume amount.

Resolve: To continue using SEP sesam, contact sales@sep.de and order a volume license extension or a replacement license with the correct amount of front-side TB. Then install it on SEP sesam Server. For details, see Licensing FAQs. For details on how to calculate front-side capacity, see SEP volume licensing.

SEP sesam version 4.4.3.22 – When running source-side deduplication, no backup throughput is displayed in the GUI

When source-side deduplication is used, the backup throughput is not shown in the GUI even though the job has finished successfully.

SEP sesam version 4.4.3.22 – Running concurrent restores may fail

Running multiple restores in parallel may fail for some configurations, for example for multiple vSphere or Hyper-V restores that are started from the same saveset.

Workaround: Do not run vSphere and Hyper-V restores that are using the same source simultaneously.

If the table Next Events is sorted by time (2nd column Starts...), the events are displayed in wrong chronological order. For example, some events that will only be started after a few months are displayed before the events that will be started in the next 60 minutes.

Workaround: Do not sort the table by time, use sorting by date instead.

SEP sesam version 4.4.3.22 – Replication job state may be incorrect

SEP sesam erroneously uses the state of the first started child task as a state for the parent replication task too, even though the other tasks might have failed, are queued or still active.

Workaround: To make sure that your replication job has successfully finished, check the replication state of each particular saveset.

Upgrade to SEP sesam version 4.4.3.22 – Java upgrade to 1.8 not possible if SEP sesam BSR Pro for Windows is installed

If updating from SEP sesam version 4.4.2 with installed SEP sesam BSR Pro, it is not possible to upgrade Java to 1.8.

Installation or upgrade to SEP sesam version 4.4.3 does not work with IBM Java on SLES-based distributions (e.g., SLES12 (1.7.0)). The problem is that IBM Java does not provide the required encryption functionality on SUSE Linux which causes a connection failure between a GUI Client and a SEP sesam Server. Consequently, installing a new version or upgrading from SEP sesam 4.4.2 to 4.4.3 fails.

Resolve: Upgrade to Oracle Java before installing or upgrading to SEP sesam 4.4.3 -- OR -- after installing or upgrading change the <SEP_sesam_home>bin/gui/sm_ui.jar with the service pack sm_ui.jar.

Fixed: SEP sesam Server version 4.4.3.25. For 4.4.3.22 version, SEP sesam Server/RDS patch –service pack for sms is available at 4.4.3 service packs. This patch prevents the MTF stream check from aborting the backup.

SEP sesam version 4.4.3.22 – Removing an Si3 deduplication store used for replication marks the corresponding savesets as deleted

If an Si3 deduplication store, which is used for replication, is removed, the corresponding savesets from the related Si3 data store are set to partially deleted.

Fixed: SEP sesam Server version 4.4.3.25. For previous version, service pack for sm_archis available at 4.4.3 service packs.

SEP sesam version 4.4.3.22 – It is not possible to browse RHEV 4.0 VMs

SEP sesam version 4.4.3.22 – SEPuler incorrectly calculates the time of the next execution inSchedules

In a daily schedule that is configured to be executed every 8 hours, the time of the next execution is incorrectly calculated. For example, the schedule's start time is 3:00, but the time of the next execution is set at 12:00 instead of 11:00.

Fixed: SEP sesam Server version 4.4.3.25.

SEP sesam version 4.4.3.22 – Adding a non-existing VM host as a client results in various Java exceptions

When selecting an incorrect or non-existing VM host in the process of configuring a virtual machine as a client in the SEP sesam environment, the GUI server and client will throw exceptions every few seconds until the GUI client is terminated.

Fixed: SEP sesam Server version 4.4.3.25.

SEP sesam version 4.4.3.22 – Misleading/wrong summary in the state of a failed migration task

If a migration event migrates a number of savesets and one of the jobs has failed, the migration state in the GUI shows only the successful migrations, while the failed one is not listed. However, the state of the main migration task is marked as failed even though all migrations except one were successful.

Fixed: SEP sesam Server version 4.4.3.25.

SEP sesam version 4.4.3.22 – Loading license overview may take a few minutes

License overview may take up to 3 minutes to load due to output of Front side volume per location(MSP license extension)

Limitations

The data of such disks is silently skipped from backup, hence the backup saveset contains no data for the external disk while the backup succeeds and no warning about the missing data is issued.

In case of VMware, SEP sesam cannot back up the data on the independent or Raw Device Mapping (RDM) disks due to a VMware limitation that does not support including independent/RDM disks in virtual machine snapshots. To have a successful backup, you should exclude the independent disks/RDMs from the backup task or install a SEP sesam Client in the virtual machine and perform an additional file or application backup to back up this data.

In case of other hypevisors (Hyper-V, Citrix Xen, KVM, OpenNebula), SEP sesam cannot back up the data on the RDM disks or on a VM without attached SCSI controller(s). To back these hypervisors, you have to add one or more SCSI controller to the virtual machine before performing a backup, even if there are no devices to use the SCSI, or you have to install a SEP sesam Client in the virtual machine and perform an additional file or application backup to back up this data.

Warning

If a restore of a VM with external disk is performed to the original VM by using the option overwrite, the disk is re-created and all existing data on the restore target is lost.

Enhancements and changes

New supported systems

SEP sesam Server 4.4.3 now also supports the following operating systems and applications:

NDMP

SEP sesam now supports Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP) (from SEP sesam version ≥ 4.4.2.87) with NDMP remote configuration, based on version 4 of the NDMP protocol. For details, see NDMP Backup. For a list of supported NAS appliances, see the support matrix. With v. 4.4.3 the backup levels FULL, DIFF and INCREMENTAL are supported for NetApp Filers. A complete restore of the NAS appliance volume is supported to the original or different target. For details, see NDMP Restore.

SEP sesam Dashboard

SEP sesam Dashboard is an easy-to-use online monitoring tool that constantly tracks SEP sesam operations and their state and provides key metrics of your backup environment. You can handily check if all your backups and restores have been completed successfully and review other useful information, such as daily, weekly, monthly or custom statistics on SEP sesam events, on total size of backed up and restored data, and on data store utilization. SEP sesam web dashboard can be accessed either from GUI or at the following address: http://[servername]:11401/sep/ui or https://[servername]:11401/sep/ui. For details, see SEP sesam Dashboard.

SEP sesam now supports single item restore (SF) and instant recovery (IR) based on almost any type of VMware backup, including differential and incremental. Additionally, with version 4.4.3 the restriction that the VMDKs must be saved in RAW format is no longer in effect.

SEP sesam Red Hat Virtualization (RHV) backup module

Advanced data protection and native backup API support for RHV is based on agentless snapshots and image-level backups of all supported VMs. For details, see RHEV backup. VMs can be restored one at a time to the original or different location, to the same or different single RHV server and to the same or different RHV cluster. Additionally, a simple path restore to a directory is supported. For details, see Restoring RHV Virtual Machines.

Source-side deduplication

A backup administrator can now choose between target- (Si3T) and newly introduced source-side deduplication (Si3S). Both methods require a configured Si3 deduplication store, for which a special license is needed. Source-side deduplication uses the Si3 deduplication engine to transfer only the data portions which are not yet stored on the Si3 deduplication store, thus offering a number of benefits, including reduced bandwidth and storage usage. For details, see Source-side deduplication.

Hyper-V incremental backup

In addition to the COPY backup, Hyper-V backups can now also use the backup level types FULL and INCR which decrease the time required to run backups and reduce storage space.

Enhanced Exchange Server DAG backup

The new concept for Microsoft Exchange Server backup allows to dynamically select the serving Exchange Server node in the DAG group – a dedicated option Execute on any DAG host allows to run database copy backup on any DAG host that has a required database copy. The Database state option is used to select an active or a passive copy for backup.

HSM-aware backup for Windows

HSM-aware backup is included in the SEP sesam package and provides efficient backup of data on Windows systems that is managed by HSM. For details, see HSM-aware Backup for Windows.

Support for NTFS alternate data streams (ADS) for Windows

SEP sesam now provides backup and restore of alternate data streams (ADS) for Windows on NTFS volumes. ADS are backed up by default, but can be excluded from backup by using a special option.
Alternate data streams are a unique data-hiding feature of NTFS file systems. A file in NTFS consists of the unnamed data stream where the data is actually contained, and of alternate data streams that can store additional metadata. Applications may use ADS for storing file attributes. For details, see Support for NTFS alternate data streams (ADS) for Windows.

Bare Metal Recovery Linux

Replication improvements

By removing limitation on the required same EOL for the source and target pool, SEP sesam now enables more dynamic data replication strategy. For details, see Replication.

Multiple Si3 deduplication stores supported for Linux RDS

The limitation of only one Si3 deduplication store per server is no longer valid for SEP sesam Remote Device Server (RDS) on Linux. Now several Si3 data stores can be set up on one RDS Linux. Note that this is not yet available in the beta release!

MSP license

The new Managed Service Provider license model is available. For more information, contact sales@sep.de.

Exchange Recovery Pro – email recovery from VMDK

SEP sesam Exchange Recovery Pro now allows to recover MS Exchange Server emails from a VMware backup. The VMDK disk file is mounted from either COPY or FULL saveset and incorporates changes from a chain of consequent DIFF or INCREMENTAL backup savesets (based on Changed Block Tracking (CBT), see VMware Backup for details).

GUI enhancements

Flexible scheduling

Scheduling is enhanced with new options: User defined option allows you to create a custom calendar according to your country or company specific requirements. For example, you can define a calendar with specific days on which you want to perform special job executions, such as backup and migration. You can also define specific dates to be excluded from individual schedules, set up a custom calendar of public holiday dates for each year, and stop scheduled jobs from running during holidays. For details, see Creating Custom Calendar. The Repeat task option allows you to specify the repetition cycle for the task. The task will run, wait for the time interval specified, and then run again. This cycle will continue for as long it is specified by the duration time. You are also able to prevent tasks to be run for too long by using the option Stop task if runs longer than and setting a time limit for the amount of time a task is allowed to run. For details on new scheduling options, see Creating a schedule.

Follow-up events

This handy feature can ease your data protection administration by configuring events that are triggered on the SEP sesam Server once the initial event has completed. You can set up a migration, a saveset verify and other actions to be triggered immediately after a backup or other event is completed. For details, see Follow-up Events.

Overview of all configured events

The Schedules component of the GUI navigation pane provides a new sub-menu Events as List. This overview shows a list of all configured events with details for each listed event, including event ID, related task, related schedule, event priority, target media pool, drive number, interface, follow-up events and the time of the next execution. For details, see Events as list.

End of maintenance and support

Obsolete SEP sesam Server version

The following versions of SEP sesam are no longer supported:

SEP sesam v. 4.2.2

SEP sesam v. 4.2.1

SEP sesam v. 4.0

SEP sesam v. 3.6

SEP sesam v. 3.4

SEP sesam v. 3.0

Unsupported SEP sesam Server OS

The following operating systems are no longer supported for SEP sesam Server:

All 32-bit operating systems

Windows Server 2003

SLES 10

SLES 11 SP1 (see Note!)

RHEL 5

Debian Lenny

Debian Squeeze

Note

SLES 11 SP2/SP3 is still supported. The limitation applies only to SEP sesam Server systems and does not affect SEP sesam Clients. For a complete list of supported SEP sesam Clients, see SEP sesam support matrix.